Gary Medina Cook
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Working on his senior thesis at the Institute of Native American Arts in Santa Fe, filmmaker/musician Gary Medina Cook went to the library to conduct research inspired by his grandmother. Medina Cook said he remembers when he was 10 years old, his grandmother cooked tortillas in her kitchen and told him stories about their family’s Native American grandmothers who were taken captive by the Spanish in the 1700s and 1800s.
During his research he discovered the book, “Nacion Genízara” by Moises Gonzales and Enrique Lamadrid. The book widened Medina Cook’s eyes; reading the book, he said he thought, “although she never used the word Genízaro, this is what she was talking about. It intrigued me.”
Returning to his class, Medina Cook asked his classmates if they had ever heard about Genízaros and he got blank stares.
He said he realized at that moment that the spirit was calling him to tell the Genízaro story. Furthermore, Medina Cook decided to tell this story through a documentary that he wrote, filmed and edited himself. The final product, “The Genízaro Experience – Shadows in Light,” will be screened Oct. 21 at SALA Event Center.
According to Medina Cook, Genízaros were Native Americans, primarily plains Indians who were first abducted by the Spanish and then purchased as war captives. The young children taken captive were called “Children of War” and were enslaved by colonists to work in their houses, fields or serve in militias as they grew into young men. They were forced to learn to Spanish and convert to Catholicism. The name they were given, Genízaro, originated from a Turkish world “Janissary” for slaves trained as soldiers, according to the National Museum of American Indian website.
For Medina Cook, the Genízaro history is personal.
“It’s part of my ancestry, my history,” he said.
To begin telling this story, Medina Cook said he interviewed Moises Gonzales, Enrique Lamadrid, Miguel Torrez and Piatt who later served as consultants.
“It was kind of a domino effect,” he said.
He spoke to scholars, authors and everyday people. Viewers will spot many familiar faces including LANL employees Corina Gonzales and Miguel Torrez, who both work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Gonzales also is a retired combat veteran from the Gulf War and works as the quartermaster for the Los Alamos VFW post and a Comanche dancer from Taos. In the film, she shared her Comanche traditions of music and dance. Torrez, who works as a geneticist for LANL and Native Bound Unbound discusses the role of DNA and identity in the documentary. Medina Cook credits Torrez for introducing him to other Genízaros within the community that ended up in the film.
Medina Cook said he has done award-winning short films in the past but “The Genízaros Experience – Shadows in Light” is his first full-length film. It has earned a number of accolades: the documentary won the Humanitarian Film Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival in February and it will be featured on PBS Nov. 16 and Nov. 17.
“I’m incredibly honored for it to receive that recognition and what’s even more rewarding is that this history, this culture, this tradition, which I am a part of on my mother’s side is being accepted and understood … I feel like I am giving a voice to the voiceless,” he said.
Medina Cook said he has had viewers come up to him and say they didn’t know their own history but through the documentary, they understand now where they come from.
As a result, Medina Cook said he is following his grandmother’s advice.
“The last thing (my grandmother) told me before she died was “remember who you are and remember where you come from.” Through this film I remember who I am and where I come from and it is allowing other people to tell their own stories in their own way,” he said.
It is one the biggest lessons Medina Cook said he learned through making the documentary.
“A lot of the lessons I learned was to never forget your ancestors,” he said. “I learned a great deal of what they had gone through and what they sacrificed. We are the sum of all that came before us.”
It is also important to remember history and not censor it, Medina Cook added.
“Exposing history – the good and the bad – is really important,” he said.
He pointed out that the victors are often the authors of history, but his documentary shows another story. One that is lost in the shadows of history. The Atlantic Slave Trade is well-known but not a lot of people are aware of enslavement of Native Americans.
“Those ships were stained with the blood of Indigenous people long before Africans were brought to Turtle Island (North America),” he said.
Medina Cook said he thanks Los Alamos National Laboratory for rewarding him with two of their scholarships. Without these scholarships, he said he never would have made it through college and the film may not have been made.
Additionally, Medina Cook said, “I am grateful for my family. Without my grandmother, my mother and these oral stories, this film would not be possible. I am really excited because I want the Los Alamos community to see the film and understand this history”
The festivities for the local screening Oct. 21 at SALA begin with a Commanche dance performance from 6:30-7 p.m. The screening will be held at 7 p.m. and a panel discussion will begin at 8 p.m. The cost is $15.75 for general admission, and it is $10.75 for veterans.